Broken Facade
by badpunsandstuff
Summary: It'd been a full year since the barrier was broken by Asriel and the monsters were freed to the surface. you'd expect everyone to be absolutely delighted, which was true- excluding one certain skeleton. After reset after reset that Sans had dealt with, he was terrified of another happening. He covered up the sadness well until one night he breaks down to Grillby while very drunk.
1. Welp, work sucks

Sans gasped loudly, sitting up abruptly in his messy bed. Drops of sweat littered his face and body, and glowing cyan tears pricked away at the corner of his eye sockets. 'It was just another nightmare, it's not real. Not real at all.' Sans assured himself, taking deep breaths in an attempt to calm himself down. Even though Frisk promised to never reset the timeline again, Sans was still terrified that they'd suddenly change their mind and bring everyone back to square one. His nightmares still occurred almost daily, resulting in him looking absolutely exhausted all the time. It was troubling and quite annoying, he used to love sleep so much and now he could barely ever get any without having a bad dream and waking up in tears. It sucked. A lot.

"SANS? ARE YOU AWAKE?" Papyrus' loud voice echoed from downstairs, probably attempting to make breakfast for the day. That was always appreciated, as Sans liked to do as little work as possible. After all this time, he was still a lazy ass skeleton.

"yea, i'll be downstairs in a few." Sans responded quickly, taking a few more moments to savor the comfort that was his bed. He wanted to go back to sleep so badly, but knew that he couldn't considering that he did have a job. The small skeleton dragged himself out of bed and got out of his pajamas, trading them clothing that would be barely acceptable for work attire. He worked as a scientist alongside Alphys and was mainly a physicist, however, on the side he secretly continued his research on anomalies and the time-space continuum.

Sans dragged himself downstairs, not ready to put his facade of happiness on yet. It was extremely draining to have to smile and joke around all the time when all you wanted to do was cry and just be by yourself. He huffed, stopping for a moment before entering the kitchen, he needed a moment to compose himself before greeting his brother. It wasn't that he didn't want to talk to his brother considering that the loud skeleton always caused him to be in a better mood. He just needed a moment, already being able to tell that today was going to be a bad day. How lovely. "hey, bro." Sans greeted nonchalantly with a smile plastered onto his face once he was ready to walk into the kitchen.

"GOOD MORNING, BROTHER. YOU SLEPT IN LATE FOR A WORK DAY TODAY, YOU LAZYBONES." Papyrus chided lightly, although Sans knew that his younger brother wasn't actually mad at him. Sans couldn't help but sleep a lot, it just came so easily to him (well, that hasn't been the case lately considering his constant nightmares). If he hadn't had the issue of nightmares, Papyrus would've probably had to drag him out of bed himself.

"what can i say? i'm just so good at sleep that i could probably do it with my eyes closed." He joked, ignoring the overbearing thought in his mind that most of last night was spent tossing and turning relentlessly trying to actually get to sleep. Papyrus didn't even bother replying to his brother's bad pun, just rolling his eyes jokingly before turning back to the stove to continue making whatever he was cooking. "ah, c'mon, bro. that was a good one and you know it," Sans complained lightly, leaning against one of counters and crossing his arms.

"IT WAS NOT! IT WAS VERY BAD." Papyrus responded in his usual cheery, loud voice. Sans chuckled before turning on his heel to head back out into the living area.

"whatever ya say, paps. you're just jealous that you didn't think of it yourself," He said cheekily as he flopped down on the couch. He sighed comfortably, leaning into the worn cushions. The two brothers definitely didn't have the best furniture, but Sans personally thought that what they did have was pretty great. Especially the couch, it's perfect for naps. Being so exhausted from not getting any sleep the night before, Sans began to drift off into a light sleep. He was almost out before Papyrus' loud voice startled him awake.

"WAKE UP AND COME EAT, BREAKFAST IS READY." Papyrus informed, and all Sans could do was nod as he was still in a slight shock from being awoken so quickly. He practically dragged himself off the couch, stretching as if he had just gotten up from a long night's sleep. Heading over to their small table, Sans noticed the two plates of spaghetti already placed in front of their seats. Papyrus had gotten tremendously better at cooking compared to when Undyne first started giving him cooking lessons back in the Underground. He was actually going to cooking school currently, since he could no longer join the Royal Guard anymore (as it was disbanded a year ago) he took up cooking as an actual job possibility. It was nice not having to pretend that Papyrus' meals tasted good just for his younger brother's sake and actually enjoying them.

"ya know, paps. i wouldn't exactly call spaghetti breakfast." Sans joked around, although he really didn't care what they ate for each meal. Food was food, and Sans would probably enjoy it as long as it tasted good. He could hear Papyrus' fake offended gasp coming from the kitchen before he emerged, carrying forks and napkins. /p

"AND? WHAT IS YOUR POINT?" Papyrus responded, sitting down in his respective seat, Sans across from him with a amused grin glued onto his face. He handed Sans a napkin and a fork, who took the two objects quickly.

"well, damn. you got me there." Sans chuckled, actually not feeling too bad in that moment. He normally felt pretty emotionally stable when his brother was around. He had this way of cheering Sans up without even knowing that the smaller skeleton was suffering. Papyrus smiled triumphantly once Sans admitted to him being right and then began to eat. Sans did as well, enjoying that his brother's food actually tasted edible now. Back then, it all tasted like someone tried to make food, burnt it, and then let their dog take a crap on it. Okay, maybe that was a slight exaggeration. The point was that it tasted bad, period. The two ate their breakfast in content silence, and every now and then a small conversation ensued. Sans lost track of time and the next time he glanced at his phone that he didn't even remember bringing downstairs with him, it was already time to go to work. "crap, i've gotta go. see ya later, bro!" Sans jumped up from his seat and began to head to the door. As much as he'd love to miss work and laze around all day, he knew Alphys would not be happy about that unless he was sick.

"SANS! WHAT ABOUT YOUR PLATE?" Papyrus complained, his eyes staring intently at the dirty plate Sans had left sitting on the table. How typical of him. He couldn't expect much more from his brother, though. He had always been messy, and Papyrus had a feeling that wouldn't change for a long time, if not ever.

"i'll clean it up later!" Sans promised, but both of them knew very well that he wasn't going to be cleaning it up anytime soon. Even if he planned on it, he'd probably forget about it ever being left on the table sooner or later. Sans then waved one last goodbye for the day and headed outside, closing the door behind him. Glancing at the clock on his phone, he knew he wouldn't make it by walking. Thank the stars that he could just teleport there instead. That made his life a lot easier and saved unnecessary explanations to his boss as of why he was late. Within moments, he was outside the lab he worked at. Taking a moment to steady himself, as teleportation always seemed to make him the slightest bit dizzy.

Walking inside the large building, the stark white lobby almost hurt his eyes. Everything was so clean and crisp, with splashes of color thanks to framed pictures/paintings on the wall and a couple of other small objects. There really wasn't any need for the lobby other than a place for employees to sign in, since visitors weren't exactly expected at a place like this. Sans headed up to the front desk and showed his work I.D to the lady working behind it. She simply looked at it for a few moments before nodding and logging him into the system. The woman wasn't exactly one for words, and the only reason that Sans knew her name was because of the name tag on her coat.

Sans walked into the next room, and his work day began. It went by excruciatingly slow for some reason, possibly because there wasn't much to be done. Well, that was a lie. There was a lot of filling out paperwork, and Sans definitely did not like filling out papers. It was a lot of work, and quite overwhelming considering his lazy tendencies. He couldn't help but look at the small clock on the computer next to him often, wanting his shift to be over already.

As the time for his day to be over came closer, the slower it seemed to go. He was still filling out papers, taking well deserved 'breaks' often which was really just him using his phone for thirty minutes or so. Finally, after what felt like forever, the day was over. The moment he saw the time was at 4:00 PM, he shoved all of the papers into a messy pile and stood up from the office chair he'd been stuck in for most of the day. He made sure he had everything and walked back out into the lobby to sign out. He was practically itching to get home, and the thought of taking a nap on the couch was suddenly very appealing to him. Sans once again headed up to the front desk like he had that same morning, and showed the worker (who's name was Anna, according to the name tag) his I.D. It wasn't like he really needed to, since he was already in the system for the day so Anna could easily find him and sign him out. It was most likely out of habit, as he had to do it for the first couple of months when nobody really knew him. He waved bye before walking out of the large building and sighing loudly. It was Friday, he had just realized which meant he had the entire weekend to himself. Well, maybe not to himself but he did have lots of extra time to sit around and worry about literally everything.

Sans decided that it wasn't worth walking home, as that took way too much effort on his part. He teleported home, reappearing inside the living room that he had slowly grown accustomed too. Papyrus would still be at work (well, it was more like a school) for about two more hours, he didn't have to go in until about an hour after Sans' shift started which of course the short skeleton was jealous of. Before doing anything, he walked upstairs and into his bedroom to change. The clothing he was wearing just wasn't really his thing. He stripped of everything he would only wear to work and put on a worn out white t-shirt and a pair of loose black sweatpants. To top it off, he put on the blue hoodie that he was almost never seen without it on unless he was at work. He thought for a moment before flopping down onto his bed instead of the couch like he had thought of doing while signing out at the lab. It was just too far, and teleporting downstairs just seemed like overkill.

It wasn't very long until he felt his eyes growing heavy, and he fell into a light sleep, sprawled out on his mattress comfortably.


	2. Drunken Confessions

Sans groaned, turning on his side and blindly reaching for his phone. It was somewhere on the mattress, he just knew it. However, he was still too tired to open his eyes and actually search for it. His hand finally brushed over a cold metal object, and he automatically knew that it was what he had been looking for. Grabbing it tightly, he brought it up to his face and unlocked it while peeking at it with one eye open. _fuck, that's really bright._ He thought to himself, squinting to check the time. It was 6:34 PM. He had been napping for about an hour and a half, which wasn't really too bad. Well, not bad for him, at least.

Sans rolled out of bed, almost taking the blanket with him before pushing it off of him just in time. He placed his feet on the floor and stood up very slowly, still half asleep. He decided that he might as well go to Grillby's, considering that he did have quite a bit of time to spend. Grillby had just recently been able to open up a bar, as there were a lot of stuff he had to get done before he could get a restaurant up and running. Thankfully, it was pretty close to Sans and Papyrus' house. That made it easier for Sans to get there. He grabbed his phone off the bed and shoved it in his pocket before walking out of his room, audibly complaining at the bright light he was greeted with. Shielding his eyes for a few moments, he walked down the stairs and greeted Papyrus who was seeming to get ready to cook dinner.

"hey paps, i'm gonna be heading to grillby's. is that cool with you?" Sans questioned lightly, glancing over at his younger brother.

"WELL, FINALLY YOU GOT UP. THAT'S ALRIGHT, JUST TRY NOT TO BE OUT TO LATE." Papyrus responded with a smile. Sans didn't know how he did it. He was always so happy and optimistic, something that Sans himself wish he could genuinely do. Even pretending, he wasn't even close to the caliber that Papyrus was, but he assumed people just thought that was how he was. A lot mellower than his brother was, which actually was something he'd been told multiple times. After about a minute, he realized he had been zoning out.

"oh, sorry about that, bro. i won't be too late, and if i am you can just call me." he responded, smiling and waving before heading towards the door.

"OKAY. GOODBYE, BROTHER." Papyrus beamed, waving back at Sans and then turned back to the kitchen. Sans strolled outside and closed the door behind him, shoving his small hands into the pockets of his hoodie. Letting out a small huff, he began to walk towards his destination. Humans tended to not like it when he showed up out of nowhere, so he decided it'd be best if he just walked.

He looked around, taking in his surroundings. It was already starting to get dark out, as it was beginning to near winter. Most of the leaves had already fallen off of the trees and were littering the sidewalk and dark asphalt haphazardly. It looked quite nice, Sans noted to himself. It didn't take a rocket scientist to see that it was much nicer on the surface than back in the underground, landscape wise.

At the thought of the underground, he shuddered, shaking his head in disapproval. Every time he thought of his old home, he was reminded the possibility of another reset. No matter how many times Frisk promised that there would be no more, he still couldn't shake the feeling that one day he'd wake up and be back at his old sentry post. Having to do everything over again, it terrified him just thinking about it.

Being lost in his thought once more, he didn't really realize when he made it to the outside of the bar. A soft smile graced his tired features and he headed up to the front door. Pushing it open, he relaxed at the familiar scent. Even though it was in a completely different place, it still smelt the same. It was a hard one to explain, but for some reason it was comforting to Sans. The inside of the bar still looked pretty similar to its underground counterpart, with just a couple things switched around.

With his hands still in his pockets, he strolled up to the bar itself and got up onto one of the high stools with a little bit of struggling. "hey, grillbz." He greeted shortly, knowing that Grillby wasn't really the type of person to talk much.

"Hello, Sans. The usual?" Grillby asked, sending a small smile in Sans' direction.

Sans thought about it for a moment, and almost opened his mouth up to say yes before abruptly changing his mind. "actually, could ya get me a shot of the best you got?" By best, Sans meant whatever alcohol he had that would get him fried the quickest. He figured it wouldn't do that much harm to get a little drunk night. He didn't have work for two days anyways, so he'd be able to sleep in for however long he wanted.

Grillby nodded before turning his back to Sans to get him a shot ready, turning back around moments later to hand it to the small skeleton. "thanks, grillby." Sans thanked him, taking the glass from him and sniffing it once to see how strong it would taste. His face scrunched up instinctively at how strong the smell was, but then shrugged and downed the small amount of liquid. He coughed once, although he didn't have an actual throat the sensation of a strong burn was definitely there.

Around thirty minutes later, Sans was absolutely wasted. A soft shade of blue was scattered across his cheekbones, and his eye lights were hazy and tired. "ya know, grillbz, y-you'd think that after being freed to the surface that i'd be happy." His words slurred together badly, becoming slightly hard to understand.

This caught Grillby's attention. He turned around, stopping whatever he was doing to talk to Sans. "What do you mean?" He asked, leaning against the bar counter.

"it's not long until it g-gets reset again, and we a-all get sent back to square one. sounds lovely, d-doesn't it?" Sans hiccupped a few times while speaking, making it a little more difficult for him to put together fluent sentences.

"Reset? Sans, I don't understand what you're talking about." Grillby was immensely confused. He had never seen this side of Sans, he only saw the one that was always laughing and cracking bad puns. He looked wrecked at the moment, the bags under his eyes much more noticeable and his smile faltering every few seconds.

"frisk, the human. they could reset this entire world at any moment and w-we'd be sent back underground, b-back to the day that they fell down mt. ebbott." Sans lamented, his eye lights lazily flickering up to Grillby's face. "i'm so fucking tired of it, grillby. i'm s-so god damn tired of having everything reset over and over again."

"You mean, this wouldn't be the first time that the world's been reset?" Grillby asked, attempting to make sense of the whole situation. It seemed that Sans had a lot more to him than meets the eye. He seemed to be a lot sadder than he let on. After all, drunk words are just sober thoughts.

"no, n-not even close. it's happened s-so much that i can't even remember h-how many times now. it seems like i'm the only one who's r-remembered them, and i h-hate it so much." He continued to ramble on. Cyan blue tears began to prick at the corners of his eye sockets and threatened to fall. Sans couldn't help it, all of the pent up emotion was going to have to come out some way or another whether he wanted it to happen or not.

Grillby was at a loss for words, he had no idea how to comfort someone. He's never had to, and especially not about this topic. It was all brand new to him. "How are you sure that it's going to happen again?" He wondered, trying to ask questions that might Sans back down from his panicked state.

"because, it always h-happens again. frisk said t-that it wouldn't, but how c-can i know that for sure?" He mumbled, the tears finally welling over and starting to streak his face in a steady flow. It didn't seem like they were going to stop anytime soon. Grillby felt really bad for him. He cared about Sans, a lot more than he'd probably admit out loud and hated to see him this way.

The fire elemental frowned, trying to throw together an acceptable response. "Well, it's been a year since monsters roamed free. Don't you think that Frisk would've reset long ago if they felt like it?" Grillby normally didn't talk much during his work shift, but Sans was an exception. He looked so miserable now, the tears refusing to stop flowing no matter how many times Sans wiped them away with the sleeve of his hoodie. It seemed like he had been holding this in for quite a while.

"i-i mean… i guess t-that's true. they could get bored though, and want to try something n-new." He whined in response. His smile had completely disappeared by now, and Grillby realized that this was the first time he had ever seen Sans without a smile on his face. He hated it. The small skeleton looked so defeated, the weight of everything on his shoulders finally getting to him.

"I don't think they will. From what I've heard, they're quite happy with Toriel. It would be quite out of the blue for them to reset after finally getting to have a family," Grillby reasoned with him, hoping to the stars that he could console Sans properly. He tapped his fingers on the counter nervously, he was probably doing an awful job at calming him down.

To his surprise, he seemed to be doing a better job than he originally thought, as Sans slowly began to calm down and his panicked gasps for air slowed to a stop. It had been a full blown panic attack for a while, Grillby noted. After about ten minutes, Sans wiped the last bits of tears off of his face. "thanks grillbz, i r-really needed that." The stuttering didn't stop, which wasn't odd considering that the skeleton was still juiced to shit. "hey, um, c-could i ask you a favor?" He then added on before Grillby had the chance to speak.

"It was no problem. And sure, what is it?" Grillby responded, curiosity getting the best of him as he waited for Sans' reply.

It took a couple of moments for him to actually gather together the right words to reply. Now that the panic-stricken state of mind had left him, he realized how muddled up his non-existent brain actually felt from the alcohol. "would- would it be alright if i stayed t-the night at your place? i really don't want paps to s-see me like this."

Grillby had to think about it, he wasn't sure about it in all honesty. Sure, he was friends with Sans. However, they weren't extremely close. He figured that he couldn't do much harm, he'd probably pass out the moment he laid on something comfortable. Even if he wasn't drunk, he knew that Sans wasn't the type of monster to go around and break people's belongings. "Sure, you can. I'll let you sleep on the couch, if that's okay," he stated kindly.

Sans let out a relieved sigh. He was worried that Grillby was going to say no and he'd have to go home and face Papyrus. He was in no shape to explain why he was drunk and why he was so upset. "thank you," was all he said before pulling out his phone to text Papyrus.

 _hey, bro. i'm gonna be staying at grillby's tonight, i'll see you tomorrow morning._ Sans set down his phone and then turned his attention back up to Grillby.

"It's only 9 PM, so I'll probably keep the place open for another thirty minutes or so. I'll be closing early, though, just so you can get to sleep. You'll be okay for a little while longer, right?" Grillby rambled a bit, not sure if Sans had the ability to stay conscious for that long. Being that drunk, he was bound to pass out at some point.

Sans nodded, a soft smile appearing back onto his features. It didn't last long, but Grillby was glad to see that he smiled again. "yeah, i s-should be okay." He informed.

Grillby smiled and then began to get back to work, glancing back to check up on Sans every so often. He didn't look as sad as he looked tired now, his eyes threatening to fall shut every now and then.

Maybe he'd have to close up even earlier than he thought.


	3. Hangovers and Headaches

By the time Grillby closed up the bar completely, Sans had already passed out. His arms were folded on the bar counter and his head rested on it, cheeks still hinted blue from the alcohol in his system. He looked quite peaceful, at least compared to his state of mind about fourty-five minutes ago he did. "Hey, Sans. You have to wake up." Grillby whispered loudly, using his hands to shake the small skeleton's shoulders lightly. He didn't budge. He attempted this for a couple more minutes before giving up. The fire elemental picked up Sans like one would with a child, one arm supporting his legs and the other wrapped around his back.

Before now, Grillby never realized how small the skeleton was. He always knew that he was short, but he seemed to be as light as a feather in his arms. That could very well be because he was literally all bones, but that wasn't the point. He also couldn't help but notice that Sans unconsciously hid his face into Grillby's neck the moment he was picked up.

It was cute. Wait, what?

He shook away his thoughts and carried Sans up the stairs and into his apartment that he was lucky to have to ridiculously close to his bar. Using the arm that wasn't supporting Sans' legs, he fished his keys out of his back pocket and opened up the door to his small place. Pulling the key out, Grillby closed the door with his foot behind him and then turned around to lock it properly. He set Sans down carefully on the couch, pulling off his slippers that he wore almost every day and set them down next to the couch itself. Grillby grabbed the blanket draped over the backside of the couch and placed it on the small skeleton carefully, not wanting to wake him up. Although, he was sure that if Sans was going to wake up it would've happened a couple minutes ago when Grillby was attempting to get him to do just that.

Grillby sighed tiredly. He hadn't realized how much the day took out of him until just now, and he was pretty excited to finally lay down to rest. He glanced at Sans one final time before heading back into his own room to get ready for bed.

The next morning, Sans groaned loudly once he opened his eyes. He had completely forgotten about the night before, so the major headache he was greeted with was a little jarring at first. _where am i?_ He wondered to himself, squinting while he looked around. Finally, the memories from the night before came flooding back. He had gotten wasted and rambled to Grillby about a shit ton of stuff that was constantly on his mind. Afterwards, he asked Grillby if he could stay the night as his place. Considering his unknown surroundings, it seemed that the elemental monster accepted his favor. He slowly came to a sitting position, his hand grabbing onto his skull as it throbbed in pain. _how much did i drink last night?_ It must've been a lot, it took quite a bit of alcohol for his head to hurt this badly. He was also pretty shocked that he didn't seem to recall a nightmare, but that might've just been because he was drunk the night before and slept like the dead.

Sans felt his pockets for his phone afterwards and pulled it out after finding it. Upon unlocking it, he noticed that he had received a text from Papyrus the night before.

'OKAY, BROTHER. I SHALL SEE YOU TOMORROW.'

Sans couldn't help but chuckle. Not only was his younger brother very loud when he talked, but he even typed in capital letters. Unlike Sans, who always typed in lower case.

Since his eyes were already angled towards the ground, he noticed his slippers were set neatly side by side at the foot of the couch. _grillby must've done that._ Sans concluded with a soft smile, scooting over to slip them on his sock-clad feet.

He wasn't entirely sure if teleporting while hung over was a good idea, but he decided to do it anyways. Sans was very good at making bad decisions, in his opinion. He popped out of the small living room and reappeared in front of the door to his house, just in case Papyrus was home. A hand flew up to his mouth, nausea overcoming him like he was just hit by a truck. It took him a lot not to throw up all over the front door, but somehow he was able to hold it back. He groaned quietly out of pure discomfort before unlocking the door and pushing it open sluggishly.

"AH, SANS! YOU ARE FINALLY HOME." Papyrus' loud voice boomed from where he was sitting on the couch. Papyrus? Relaxing? Well, isn't that a surprise. The volume of his voice brought another sharp pang to his skull, however, he withheld pressing a palm to his forehead. He didn't want his younger brother to know what was wrong, especially since he didn't approve of Sans drinking becoming more and more of a problem.

"yeah, bro, i sure am. sorry that it took so long." He apologized quietly, boney fingers scratching at the back of his skull nervously. Sans turned to head to the kitchen in search of painkillers and some water, but not before he was stopped by his brother.

"IT IS QUITE ALRIGHT. I HAD TO READ MY BEDTIME STORY TO MYSELF, THOUGH. THAT WAS A HASSLE." Papyrus scolded lightly, although the tone in his voice held a teasing note to it. It was obvious that he wasn't actually upset at Sans, it took a lot more than not being there to read him a bedtime story to actually upset the taller skeleton.

Sans chuckled and threw his hands up in defeat. "crap, you're right. i'm such a numbskull that i completely forgot i was supposed to do that." He smirked at his own pun. No matter how shitty he felt, Sans would always find a way to make a pun.

Papyrus rolled his eyes automatically upon hearing his older brother's terrible pun. "SANS. THAT WAS AWFUL!" He complained, crossing his arms over his chest but making no move to get up from the couch. He must've been really engrossed in the show that he was watching, but that wasn't entirely a bad thing. Sans knew that his breath still probably reeked of alcohol, and being up close to the skeleton would make it obvious that he wasn't feeling too hot.

"actually, it was pretty bonetastic." Sans responded, throwing gun hands and winking jokingly in his brother's direction before turning around to actually walk into the kitchen. He could hear Papyrus' exasperated groan coming from the living room, causing another amused chuckle to fall from Sans' mouth. He still felt like he was dying, but his brother had once again managed to turn his pouty mood around. He shuffled around the kitchen, opening and closing cupboards in an attempt to find what he was looking for.

Finally, after what seemed like ten minutes of searching (in reality it was more like two), he found the pain killers. Opening the bottle up, he poured out two into his hand and then closed the cap. Standing up on his toes, he shoved the small bottle back to where it belonged. With the two pills still in his hands, Sans opened up the fridge and pulled out a full water bottle. It was their last one, he was very lucky.

He struggled to open up the bottle slightly, grinning triumphantly once the cap finally popped off. Sans tossed the painkillers into his mouth lazily, taking a large gulp of water afterwards to get it down his non-existent throat. He twisted the cap back on and strolled out of the kitchen nonchalantly with his room in mind as the destination. "i'll be in my room, paps. i'm probably gonna be taking a nap though, so you'll actually have to come into my room to wake me up." He informed with a big grin, waving at Papyrus as he crossed the living room.

"WHY AM I NOT SURPRISED?" Papyrus shook his head while he spoke, but the joking look visible on his face let Sans know that he was just messing with him. Sans shrugged, stopping his short journey at the foot of the stairs so that he could reply to his younger brother.

"'cause, i take at least one nap every single day. its like my thing." Sans shrugged and then chuckled quietly, leaning against the wall to keep his balance. He was quite dizzy, now that he thought about it. Even though he'd been up for less than an hour, he knew that an nap was necessary to help this hangover pass as peacefully as it could.

"OH, YEAH. YOU'RE RIGHT." Papyrus responded, the teasing look on his face becoming more obvious. "I FORGET THAT NOT EVERYONE CAN HAVE AS MUCH ENERGY AS I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS HAS."

"you got me there, paps."

"I SURE DID!"

Sans shook his head jokingly before turning around and waving one final time. He walked up the stairs, albeit a little shakily and prayed to the stars that Papyrus didn't notice the way his legs shook every time he took a step. By the comfortable silence that encased the room after Papyrus' last statement, it seemed like he hadn't. Thank the stars for that one. Once he reached the door to his room, he didn't hesitate to open it up and get inside quickly. He let out a breath of relief that he hadn't even realized that he was holding, but it wasn't surprising since skeletons didn't exactly need to breathe.

He shuffled over to his bed tiredly and practically fell onto it face first, his head hitting his uncovered pillow. Sans rolled over slowly until he was facing the ceiling, feeling his pockets for his phone and pulling it out very slowly. His eyes squinted automatically when he turned it on, the bright light not doing much to help his headache which so far hadn't fading away in the slightest. It was only 11:47 in the morning, meaning he had basically all day left to lie around and do nothing except complain to himself about how shitty he felt.

Sans opened up his texting app and opened up a new thread, typing Grillby's name into the contact searcher. He didn't really remember why he had Grillby's number, one day it was just kind've there. He was probably drunk when he got it, in all honesty.

sans:

 _hey, thanks for lettin me crash at your place last night. i owe you one._

Sans read over the text once, checking for typos and then sent it. A couple minutes later he was surprised to get a reply. He didn't expect Grillby to respond so quickly while he was working, but hey, maybe he didn't have many customers at that moment.

grillbz:

 _Like you owe me that tab you still haven't paid?_

The small skeleton panicked slightly. He didn't have the money to pay his tab back, at least not now he didn't

sans:

 _heh, yeahhh. sorry about that._

He tried to make the response as nonchalant as possible, thanking the stars that it was easy to text without showing what emotion you were actually feeling. His worries were diminished moments later, though.

grillbz:

 _I'm just kidding with you. It was no problem._

A large sigh escaped Sans' mouth, the worry bubbling in his non-existent gut dissipating very quickly afterwards. Grillby had just been joking with him. It was quite strange, as he'd never heard a joke to come out of the fire elemental's mouth before now. Well, technically he still hadn't. He still had joked with Sans, which wasn't something that the skeleton was used to. He typed out a quick reply, making sure that it sounded teasing enough before letting his phone drop to the mattress. Sans turned on his side, seeing his phone light up once more. It must've been from Grillby, and if Sans wasn't suddenly feeling so tired he would've picked up his phone to respond.

Alas, he couldn't fight the overpowering feeling of exhaustion and his eyes fell shut. Sans was out like a lightbulb within minutes, showing how tired he really had been lately.

"SANS! YOU HAVE BEEN ASLEEP FOR FIVE HOURS NOW. GET UP, YOU LAZYBONES!" Papyrus shook Sans awake, who groaned and complained under his breath. He really didn't want to get up. He was so comfortable in his bed, curled up with his hoodie on.

"mmm, i don't wanna." Sans whined, turning to bury his face in the pillow. At this, the younger skeleton had enough. He picked up Sans bridal style, and to his surprise, the smaller of the two barely budged. He carried him downstairs and let him flop down on the couch, which did elicit a reaction from the tired skeleton. "woah, woah. i was asleep."

"YES, I KNOW THAT. AND I HAVE MADE DINNER." Papyrus responded, which in turn made Sans peek at the other with one eye.

"you did?" He whispered, still pretty adamant on lying down.

"YES. IT IS 5:52, BROTHER. YOU NEED TO GET UP AND EAT." Sans was pretty shocked by his words. He had slept for more than five hours, almost six. He must've really needed that rest.

"fine, fine. i'm getting up." The small skeleton grumbled, but made no move to sit up, let alone stand up.

"THAT DOESN'T LOOK LIKE GETTING UP, SANS."

"okay, okay, i swear i'm actually getting up now." Sans promised. Although it did take him a minute, his opened his eyes and pushed himself up into a sitting position. He was still leaning heavily back onto the couch, showing that he was still barely awake. It was better than nothing, though. Yawning, he turned his attention up to Papyrus. "so, what're we having?"

"YOU'LL SEE WHEN YOU WALK TO THE DINING TABLE."

"walk? there? you're really expecting a lot out of me, bro. that's a lot of unnecessary exercise."

"WELL, I ALREADY CARRIED YOU DOWN HERE. SO I WILL NOT BE CARRYING YOU TO THE DINING TABLE." Papyrus said firmly, though a small smile was still visible. It took a lot for Papyrus to get mad at Sans even with all of his lazy tendencies, like mentioned before.

"fine, i'm walking there." Like when he sat up, it took Sans a few moments took actually stand. Once he did, he realized that he hadn't ever taken off his slippers when he took the nap. Oh well, that didn't really matter. He shuffled over to the dining table, glancing back at Papyrus with a tired grin.

Thank the stars he had such a cool brother to take care of him.


	4. He didn't mean it, right?

**A/N: this one is pretty short, sorry about that!**

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It was a Sunday afternoon, two days after the incident with Grillby where Sans spilled everything that he wouldn't dare tell anyone while sober. Papyrus was over at Undyne's and Alphys' place for the day doing who knows what. Most likely they were making food, and he wouldn't doubt that Undyne was practically wrecking her kitchen. He'd never seen anyone be as violent making food until he met the fish monster. Sans, on the other hand, was lazing comfortably on the couch. He had remote in one hand that was absentmindedly flicking through the channels, and a bottle of ketchup in the other. There was nothing interesting on to watch, there normally never was on a Sunday.

Sans set down the remote and picked up his phone, checking to see if he had any notifications. Specifically, he was checking to see if he had received a reply from Grillby. For some reason, they had started texting regularly like they were best buds. It wasn't a bad thing, it was just a bit strange considering that about three days they only spoke while Sans was in Grillby's bar. He hadn't responded yet, which made sense. He did have a bar to run, after all. Letting his phone drop to his lap, he turned his attention back to whatever was on the TV. It was some sort of golfing tournament, which Sans was not interested in at all. He didn't really understand sports, and probably never would.

He reached for the remote and began to switch through channels again at a sluggish pace. The small skeleton was extremely bored due to the lack of interesting content on TV and wanted something to do. Of course, he only wanted to do things that involved him being able to either sit or lay down. Being lazy was what he did best, in his own opinion. Huffing, Sans gave up trying to find something and settled on some extremely over dramatic show. The acting was terrible, and the events happening in the current episode were very predictable. However, he ended up enjoying watching it. Not because of the bad plot, but because he silently made fun of all of the flaws the show had.

Once it was over, he was once again left with nothing to do. Sans picked up his phone and checked the time. 3:24 PM. Considering how bored he knew he'd be if he stayed at home, he made the decision to walk over to Grillby's. He'd probably enjoy himself more there, plus he would get to sit and basically do nothing. That was right up his ally.

Standing up from the worn couch, the small skeleton zipped up his blue hoodie and then shoved his phone unceremoniously into his pocket. It was getting colder out every day, and Sans did not want to be prey to it. He got sick easily, and being cold would not aid him in that whole trying to avoid it thing. Sans strolled up to the front door, forgetting to turn off the TV. He knew that if he didn't get home before Papyrus did that his younger brother would not be happy with him for leaving it on. Using his gravity magic, he brought the remote over to him. One of the many perks to having magic like that meant that he had plenty of more opportunities to be lazy. He faced in the direction of the TV and turned it off before tossing the remote back on the couch, quite proud of himself when it didn't bounce back onto the floor.

Turning back to the front door, Sans took the house key out of his shorts pocket and unlocked it. He stepped outside and closed it behind him, locking it back up moments later. Dropping the key back into his pocket, he began to walk in the direction of the bar. He was more so shuffling his feet than actually picking them up off the ground, he was too tired to do anything more than what he already was. Even though he took plenty of naps, the fact that he was almost never getting a good night's sleep was really taking a toll on him. He wished that the nightmares would stop, but they never did. Sometimes, it seemed as if they were getting more vivid.

He stayed deep in his thoughts for the remainder of the time that he was walking, only pulling himself out of his mind when he saw that he had arrived at his destination. Pushing the door open, he smiled and waved at some of the monsters that still were regulars at Grillby's bar, like the skeleton himself. Once he reached the bar counter itself, he pushed himself up onto one of the bar stools. Sans always struggled mildly trying to sit on the tall chairs, his short stature never seeming to aid him. "heya, grillbz." He greeted, waving at the fire elemental.

"Hello, Sans. How are you?" Grillby asked, engaging the two in small talk. He was currently using a soft rag on a glass, most likely drying it off.

"i'm hangin' in there, tibia honest. you?" Sans responded, casually dropping in a pun. Even if he wasn't in the best of moods, he was always able to crack a joke with the snap of his fingers. He placed his elbows on the counter, leaning over it slightly while he waited for the other's response.

"I'm tired, it's been busy today." Grillby stated, and Sans noticed that he did seem to be moving and talking a bit more sluggishly than usual. Well, he assumed that was a pretty common thing when you owned and ran a bar on your own.

"that's pretty strange, isn't sunday normally your least busy day?" Sans inquired curiously. Being someone that visited the bar almost on a daily, he began to notice the days that were the busiest and the ones that weren't over time.

"A lot of the time it is, I don't know why today is so different." Grillby shrugged while he spoke, moving to set down the cup that he had finally finished drying off. Seemed as if he worked slower while distracted. "Do you want anything?"

"just the usual," Sans replied a grin. Even though he was drinking ketchup about fifteen minutes ago, it never hurt to have more. Well, in his opinion it didn't. Maybe it was different for other people who didn't normally just drink ketchup out of the bottle.

Grillby nodded and walked into the back room for a minute, coming out moments later with a bottle of ketchup in one hand. He handed it to Sans who thanked him and took it from his hands afterwards. The skeleton removed the cap and took a drink out of it, setting it down on the counter afterwards.

About an hour passed of Sans nurturing the bottle of ketchup and making small talk with Grillby before he began to feel the effects of being sleep deprived hit him. Although it was still quite early to be tired, Sans got tired very quick and very often if he didn't get his fair share of naps. He had only taken a thirty minute long one somewhere around 11:00 AM, which explained his sleepiness hitting him now. He finished the bottle of ketchup and handed it to Grillby, who in turn threw it in the nearby trash can.

Slowly but surely, Sans' thoughts became clouded with exhaustion and stopped making casual conversation. Instead of that, some pretty suggestive lines began to spill from his mouth.

"hey grillbz, is it hot in here? or is that just you?"

"i'd offer you a cigarette, but you're already smokin' hot."

"i'm a little cold, why don't you come here and warm me up?"

Grillby was thoroughly confused. Why the hell was Sans flirting with him? Well, considering that it was Sans, it could be just some elaborate joke. He didn't really seem to be joking, although that could be hard to tell sometimes. "Sans?"

"yeah?" Sans asked with a tired grin, not even realizing that what he was doing could cause problems to arise in their friendship.

"Is there a reason that you're flirting with me?" Grillby asked. He didn't sound mad or upset in any way, just curious.

It seemed that Sans shot wide awake at his question, a bright blue blush practically exploding onto his cheeks. Being basically half asleep, he wasn't really paying attention to what he was saying, everything just coming out like word vomit. If Grillby hadn't pointed it out he probably would've kept going until he decided to leave or when he passed out from exhaustion. "o-oh my stars, i am really sorry. you know, i-i should probably leave right now. paps is probably home now and i should keep him company, ya know? just, uh, just put the ketchup on my tab." He rambled nervously, speaking so quickly that his words jumbled together and were almost hard to understand. "bye!" Sans exclaimed and hopped out of his seat, shuffling quickly out of the bar and leaving a very confused fire elemental behind.

That had been the most embarrassed Grillby had ever seen Sans, come to think of it, he'd never seen Sans flustered before. If he was joking around, wouldn't he have just cracked another joke in response to his question? Unless he actually- no. That couldn't be right.

Sans didn't care about the humans freaking out him teleporting at the moment, he just wanted to get home. Once he got outside, he immediately popped out of sight and into his own room. _holy shit, why was i flirting? on top of that, why was i so flustered when he pointed it out?_ Grillby had just asked him a question, there was no reason for Sans to freak out the way he did. He didn't mean anything by it, right? He was just tired and delirious, right?

The small monster had no way of knowing for sure, his thoughts were so jumbled that he was struggling to form a coherent sentence even in his own head. It was quite ridiculous in all honesty, the way he reacted was so uncalled for and very unlike him. Normally, he was cool and collected. In those few minutes that he was rambling to Grillby, he was anything but that. He could still feel his magic pooling at his cheeks, letting him know that the color had yet to fade.

Sans sighed and flopped out onto his bed. He'd deal with this later. Right now, all he wanted to do was nap. So, he did just that. Grabbing his blanket and pulling over him, he curled up and closed his eyes. It took some time, his thoughts interrupting his efforts to get to sleep, but after about twenty minutes he was able to fall into a light sleep.

The next time he interacted with Grillby would definitely turn out to be very, very interesting.


End file.
